From the 8/12/02
Macon Telegraph:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Cavs aim to recapture enthusiasm
By Joseph Person
Telegraph Staff Writer
Editor's Note: This is the seventh in a series of stories previewing football teams in the ACC and SEC. The series begins with the ACC schools. Next: Wake Forest.
VIRGINIA
• Coach: Al Groh, second season, 5-7; eighth season overall, 31-47.
• 2001 finish: 5-7 overall; 3-5, tied for seventh place in the ACC.
• Postseason: None.
• Returning starters: Offense (7), Defense (6), Special Teams (0).
• Local impact: There are no Middle Georgians on Virginia's roster.
• Season opener: Aug. 22 vs. Colorado State.
• Projected finish: 5-8, 3-5 in ACC.
Virginia students have a keen awareness of history.
You can't walk through Charlottesville without bumping into a building that Jefferson either built or slept in, but the UVA undergrads know a little something about their school's football history, too.
So they surely sensed that the Cavaliers' 5-7 finish in Al Groh's first season wasn't quite right. In fact, it was Virginia's first losing season since 1986, when George Welsh posted only his second sub-.500 record in 19 years in Charlottesville.
The players sensed it, too.
"We lost the enthusiasm we used to have, but each year a new team develops," said middle linebacker Angelo Crowell, whose older brother, Germane, starred at receiver for the Wahoos in the mid-1990s.
The Cavs' seventh-place finish in the ACC was also their worst since '86, and represented a significant drop for a school that was the chief competition to Florida State during the Seminoles' first several years in the conference.
Virginia was an equal opportunity disappointment last fall under Groh: The Cavaliers were dismal both offensively and defensively. With quarterbacks Bryson Spinner and Matt Schaub both struggling to find a rhythm, the Cavs finished eighth in the ACC in total offense, their 345 yards a game just a yard better than winless Duke.
The defense also was worse than any other ACC team besides Duke, giving up an alarming 430 yards a game while never getting completely comfortable with new defensive coordinator Al Golden's 3-4 scheme.
"When you're out there just thinking, you're not really showing your talent and how you can play," said Crowell, an all-American candidate who set a school record with 144 tackles last year. "We knew the defense well enough to go out and execute some things, but didn't know it well enough to go out and just play."
Crowell insists things finally started clicking for the defense last spring, but the loss of three starters on the defensive line could make for some challenging Saturdays for an experienced secondary that has all four starters back.
With Spinner transferring to Richmond, Schaub finally has the quarterback position all to himself. Unless the junior from Pennsylvania shows some vast improvement over last year, that might not necessarily be a good thing. Schaub threw nearly as many interceptions (eight) as touchdowns (10) in 2001, and was eighth in the conference in passing efficiency.
"I think he should play better. He's a second-year player now. He's been through a lot more games," Groh said. "I have strong feelings that he'll have a very good season."
Schaub's best strategy might be to simply throw the ball in the general vicinity of 6-foot-4 receiver Billy McMullen, a first-team all-ACC selection after leading the conference in every receiving category.
McMullen finished with 83 receptions, shattering the school record by 29, and added 1,060 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. Teams won't just watch McMullen closely this year: They'll build entire gameplans around stopping him.
"I'd be surprised if there's a better receiver in the country," Groh said. "He caught 83 balls last year - high ones, low ones, short ones, deep ones, man coverage, zone coverage. I wouldn't trade him for anybody."
Already Virginia's career receptions leader, McMullen needs 76 catches to break the ACC mark held by Wake Forest's Desmond Clark. But McMullen refused to make any predictions.
"Don't get me wrong: I do want the ball," he said. "But if I get less plays or less catches, I'm going to make something happen."
McMullen took a subtle swipe at Welsh's play-calling, saying he preferred offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's pro-style sets to Welsh's "run, run, throw deep" philosophy.
But McMullen should know as well as anyone not to turn his back on history at Virginia, especially when the present still seems shaky.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is Al Groh the right coach to replace George Welsh? If he doesn't improve upon last year's mediocrity, then he might be hunting for a return to NFL coaching...
